Poosh W/ Separation Anxiety

Hi Nicole,
I have a Yorkie who would much rather I take her everywhere too. She is almost 1.5 years. I give her a little peanut butter before I put her in the crate and in cold weather I put a towel over her crate to simulate night time. Hope these ideas will work for you.

R.

Hi Nicole! I don't have a dog, but I actually read an article recently (somewhere) on dogs that had separation anxiety. The article suggested that you basically start to 'prepare' to go somewhere, then don't go. You would do this several times over the course of the day or couple of days. Then the next step would be to actually leave the house, but come back within a few minutes (several times) and then increase the amount of time each time until the dog is showing signs of 'improvement'. It sounds like a lot of work, but in the long run, it should help. Good luck!

This is a problem that will require time and effort on your part, before it gets worse, so you need to decide if it's realistic for you to give it that effort since you are obviously a busy M.. There are separation anxiety meds, but these usually don't work alone. The best thing would first to ask your vet for a referral to a behaviorist, a trainer won't help. You need to start behavioral modification. That usually means committing to a program where you first put her in the crate without closing the door, like 50 times, then come get her to show her it's okay. Then in the crate with the door closed, like 50 times or however long it takes for her not to get nervous. Then in the crate and you walk to the front door, then in the crate, you walk out of the front door, then the same, and you leave for a minute, then 5 minutes, then 15, then 1/2 hour, etc, until it's a longer period of time. This way she gets to learn it's okay. The other important tip is when you come home, as well as anyone else in the house, you can let her out of the crate, but do not look at her, do not pet her or praise her or kiss her, basically just ignore her for like 45 to 60 minutes. When you make a big deal of coming home or going out, it becomes an anxiety ridden event for her. If you just ignore her before and after, she learns it's not such a big deal.

Obviously, as a vet, I realize this is a big undertaking, but at 2 years old, it's especially important you do it now, just as with a child, because if you don't, I promise you it will get worse. That's why I ask if it's realistic for you to put in the time and effort. For a while you basically have to treat her like a 4th child. If you can't, as I said, it will get worse, so you may want to consider seeing if there's someone who can take her for a while with more time on their hands. Good luck, I know it's hard with little ones!

Arleen's advice is correct. You also cannot pay attention to the behavior. When she acts this way, just go about your business and do what you have to do. No petting her, no babying her in any way as this condones the behavior and she will continue to behave badly. As Arleen said, this excercise will indeed take time and patience, you must be diligent and do the excercise she describes every day, a few times a day until she understands it and it becomes 2nd nature. Also, you may want to excercise her before you leave.
Take her for a good 20 minute walk before you leave, come back, place her in her crate and walk out. You need to expend the nervous energy because if you don't, she will be destructive. i have a jack russell and she has separation anxiety and whenever I go out, I take her for a nice long walk and she comes back tired and relaxed. I let her off the leash, don't say anything to her and walk out. I come back and she behaves....at which point I reward her with another walk. Good luck.

I have a chihuahua/corgi mix of the same mind set. The crate is best. We cannot be anthropomorphizing to cause ourselves more aggravation. I let our dog stay out when visiting my M. when we went ou and she ripped up the carpet and scratched up the front door. The crate is a "safe" place perhaps put a personal item of yours in there to confort till you return.

Hi Nicole
To get rid of the anxiety (or at least minimize it) I would suggest "practicing" leaving the house. It will take time, but it's the best way to get rid of it. What you would do would be get dressed as if you're leaving and then not leave (desensitizing your doggie to that cue). You would have to do that a few times (different times of the day, etc) before you'll notice she would stop getting worked up. Then the next step would be to leave the house and stay outside the door for a few seconds then go back in, etc, working up to a longer time. Don't stay out the first time long enough for her to start barking - even if it's just the action of unlocking the door and walking out then walking right back in to start off. I did this and my neighbors probably thought I was crazy at first :) but it works like a charm. However, this process will take some time - but it's the best proven method. Hope it helps and let me know how it goes. A. :)
A.

I would get another dog so she has someone to play with while you are gone. I have four dogs and while they don't always get along, they are thankful for the canine companion when I need to go out with out them.

I also had a dog with extreme separation anxiety. He would pee & poo in the house after I left - I tried crating him & that made it worse (did it in the crate). When I met with a trainer - I found out that a lot of what I was doing was making the situation worse. You may already know the following - but just in case... crating the dog during the day was creating more anxiety for the dog. He thought he was being punished. I was making a huge production when I came home and then giving him treats when he was jumping all over me (my own mommy guilt was driving that behavior!). I had to actually ignore the dog when I came home (although it seemed cruel at first), and give him a treat after he calmed down - to reward the calm behavior. I also couldn't make a big deal about leaving - I couldn't look at the dog, say goodbye...just 'be a good boy, mommy will be back.' and leave. I did this in increasing time intervals. I left for 15 minutes, came back - again ignoring him, and rewarding after he was calm...then 30 minutes...an hour...you get the point. It worked. He stays in the house just fine, and there hasn't been any more accidents. It didn't take long either. Good luck!

how do you behave when you leave and come home. I remember being taught to not make a big deal of it. when you come home, don't shower your dog with kisses and hugs, etc. Just come home and say Hi and that is that. then, they don't associate your coming and going as such a big deal.